Worker forces his way back
When George Worker missed out on the Black Caps he didn’t sulk, he just scored more runs. George Heagney reports.
"Coming off a good summer I was always pretty hopeful. I guess it's a relief to see my name there." George Worker
George Worker wasn’t going to let missing selection for the Black Caps get him down.
The 27-year-old Central Districts batsman was one of the form domestic batsman this season, but for most of the summer he had to watch while others were selected in front of him.
But Worker wasn’t disheartened and responded with the bat, doing enough to earn a recall to the Black Caps team to tour Ireland in May.
Worker was the highest run scorer in the domestic one-day competition this season with 659 runs, nearly 200 more than the next best, scored two hundreds and four fifties, not to mention the 12 wickets he snared with his leftarm spin.
‘‘I wouldn’t say I knew it was coming,’’ Worker said of his selection. ‘‘I was always pretty hopeful.
‘‘I knew there were a few boys out at the IPL and coming off a good summer I was always pretty hopeful. I guess it’s a relief to see my name there.’’
The squad touring Ireland, which includes thee potential debutants and has a new captain in Tom Latham, is a new-look one because 10 regular players have Indian Premier League commitments, but they should come back into the side for the Champions Trophy in England in June.
Worker has been on the fringe of the New Zealand team since his debut against South Africa in 2015, but has only played two one-day internationals and two Twenty20 internationals.
Worker has been one of the top domestic batsmen the past two summers. In the Plunket Shield this year he scored 486 runs in five games at an average of 60.75, which included four half centuries and one ton.
Last season he scored 610 runs in six Plunket Shield games at an average of 61, including three hundreds and in the one-day competition he scored 641 runs, with two tons, one of which was a matchwinning 159 in the final against Canterbury, at an average of 58.27.
‘‘I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t frustrating at some stages throughout the summer. That’s all part of it and it’s what you can’t control.
‘‘The way I performed throughout the summer I was knocking the door down with my performances.’’
This summer players like Dean Brownlie and Neil Broom went ahead of Worker into the national side, even though some thought Worker would have been the next in line.
‘‘Some times it is pretty tough when you get the phone call saying you’re not in and they’re selecting other people ahead of you,’’ Worker said. ‘‘You can’t let that get you down.
‘‘You’ve just got to keep doing what you can and keep controlling what you can.’’
Worker was hoping to be in the mix for the Champions Trophy in England, but if not, he will continue to England to play club cricket for Knowle and Dorridge Cricket Club in the Birmingham Premier League. An elbow injury meant Worker had to cut his club commitments in England short last winter and he missed the start of the New Zealand season.
It also meant he missed out on a chance at touring India with the New Zealand team in October.
‘‘It was pretty frustrating at the start of the summer, I missed probably six months of cricket. I feel like I don’t need a break now.’’